Deadline

Play trailer

Deadline

PG-13

Released Feb 17, 2012

1h 35m

Mystery & Thriller

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

0%

Tomatometer

9 Reviews

53%

Popcornmeter

100+ Ratings

A Nashville reporter (Steve Talley) meets threats and opposition from all sides when he delves into the long-unsolved murder of a black youth in rural Alabama.

Watch on Peacock

Stream Now

Robert Abele

Los Angeles Times

Has all the dramatic punch of a community theater production.

Rated: 1.5/5

Apr 12, 2012

Full Review

Jeannette Catsoulis

New York Times

Too lifeless for Lifetime and too inept to do justice to its source material...

Rated: 1/5

Apr 12, 2012

Full Review

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

The plot, in short, is underwhelming. It merely follows the reporters as the screenplay serves them the solution to their case on a silver platter.

Rated: 2/4

Apr 12, 2012

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

...it's not evil and it's enjoyable in the same way the really terrible movies featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 were enjoyable (or at least it was for me and my jaded sensibilities)... a well-intentioned mess.

Rated: 80/100

Apr 29, 2012

Full Review

David Noh

Film Journal International

A case involving the murder of a black youth gets solved here, but absolutely nothing could help this numbingly awful, undoubtedly well-intentioned but who-cares-it's-so-bad farrago.

Apr 13, 2012

Full Review

John Beifuss

Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

The acting is the strong suit of this 'cold case civil rights murder' drama, with songwriter J.D. Souther -- who resembles a more professorial Clint Eastwood -- making a particularly distinct impression.

Rated: 2/4

Mar 2, 2012

Full Review

Read all reviews

Audience Member

If the story wasn't true, the treatment of this tragedy would be laughable. It wouldn't even be worthy as a TV movie. Even the music was clumsy and uninspiring. Except for Eric Robert's participation, and Jeremy Childs as Editor Walker Burns, all of the acting seems flimsy and fake. "Wallace Sampson" deserved better.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

superb simple twist turn everywhere

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/20/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Great, encouraging story! Justice wins out. Based on true story.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/25/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This one is available on Netflix and it was surprisingly good, more so when I found out it is inspired by true events! Apparently the real crime took place in a small South Carolina town and was not investigated for decades. In the film a black 18 year old named Wallace Sampson (Romonte Hamer) is shot to death in rural Alabama. The case goes uninvestigated, unsolved, and unpunished for almost twenty years. That changes when Nashville Times reporter Matt Harper (Steve Talley) meets an idealistic young blueblood named Trey Hall (Lauren Jenkins) bent on discovering the truth. Harper undertakes the investigation despite the opposition of his publisher, violent threats from mysterious forces, a break-up with his fiancée, and his father's cancer diagnosis. Recommended...

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

screw what everybody else say's it not that bad

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A film with some of the worst acting ever seen, Deadline (an AWFUL title) came across as a bad student film destined for a very short theatrical release. Saw this in Tennessee, and figured it's only in theaters here hoping to capitalize on the that it was filmed here. Clichéd dialogue, stereotypical characters & unbelievable story development plague this film "inspired by a true story". Felt like a film from the 60s, not one from 2012. There are many great films dealing with racial issues, but this is not one. But it was great to Eric Roberts, who was the lone bright spot. March 5, Addendum Note the two new "positive" user reviews are from the same person. Click on Cole and you'll see that the reviewer's name is Leslie Hutchens! My hunch is she worked on the film or is related to someone that did.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

Curt Hahn

Director

Steve Talley

Matt Harper

Eric Roberts

Ronnie Bullock

Anna Felix

Delana Calhoun

Lauren Jenkins

Trey Hall

Jackie Welch

Mary Pell Sampson

Dream House

7%

36%

Dream House

Watchlist

Secret in Their Eyes

39%

41%

Secret in Their Eyes

Watchlist

TRAILER

for Secret in Their Eyes

A Pure Formality

80%

88%

A Pure Formality

Watchlist

No Good Deed

13%

55%

No Good Deed

Watchlist

Thr3e

5%

51%

Thr3e

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Critics Consensus: The Three Stooges Is Sometimes Funny, Sometimes Un-Soiten

View more photos

Synopsis

A Nashville reporter (Steve Talley) meets threats and opposition from all sides when he delves into the long-unsolved murder of a black youth in rural Alabama.

Director: Curt Hahn
Producer: Molly M. Mayeux, Curt Hahn
Screenwriter: Mark Ethridge
Distributor: Transcendence
Production Co: Transcendent
Rating: PG-13 (Some Mature Thematic Material)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 17, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): May 4, 2017
Runtime: 1h 35m

Most Popular at Home Now